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But that doesn’t mean he enters the track with a sense of dread. He has the same hope many drivers have once restrictor plates are put on the cars — if he can be in position near the end of the race, anything can happen.

That philosophy rang true when he pushed Front Row Motorsports teammate David Ragan to the win last year at Talladega. And it rang true again Friday as Gilliland found the right pack to be in as he won the pole for the Coke Zero 400.

Gilliland posted a lap of 199.322 mph in the first session and, as rain wiped out the final two sessions, was awarded the pole for the race Saturday night. Tommy Baldwin Racing’s Reed Sorenson (199.221 mph) will start beside him.

“This style of race track is something that anything can happen on,” Gilliland said. “A lot of times, you are on the wrong end and the end you don’t want to be on with the big one or accidents and so on.

“But you know, I think for sure that we have been close. We finished third in the Daytona 500 a few years ago and I feel really good about our chances. I love this race track.”

Gilliland has won only three poles in his career, the first in October 2006 at Talladega and the next for the 2007 Daytona 500. Both of those came while he was at Yates Racing.

“The restrictor-plate tracks are a good equalizer,” Gilliland said. “David Ragan and I both have cars good enough to win (Saturday) and that is an exciting feeling.

“It is something myself and my teammate don’t have every week. … (I) feel like we have 100 percent as good a chance as anyone to win (Saturday) night.”

The pole was a nice turnaround in a week where Gilliland had some misfortune — he lost his wedding ring in the nearby Atlantic Ocean as his family has been vacationing in a condo all week. His wife tweeted about a comment their daughter made:

I just told Tay that daddy got the pole and she said "maybe that wedding ring was bad luck" 😂😂 (he lost it in the ocean yesterday)

In a weird qualifying session where drivers crept slowly around the track before hoping to pick up the best tow in the draft, Gilliland and Sorenson were joined atop the board by two other unexpected drivers — Mike Hillman Racing’s Landon Cassill and Circle Sport Racing’s Bobby Labonte.